Category Archives: Boerse Stuggart Digital Ventures

The largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe, AG Siemens, has announced that it will invest USD 681 million into a center for the study and development of blockchain, artificial intelligence, and other innovative technologies.

The long-term project, set for completion in 2030, will see the initial buildings develop into a technology park and base for new startups, making an important link between business, innovation and science. A major focus on the development of both blockchain and AI technologies has been earmarked as essential moving forward. Other areas of development which will take place in SiemensStadt will include data analysis, the development of electric vehicles, distributed power systems, and energy management.

Despite Siemens announcing job losses last month to the tune of 2,900 staff due to restructuring, the company has stated that the new project will provide employment for hundreds. Berlin’s mayor, Michael Müller, suggested that “the city’s status as a scientific center would be boosted by the investment”.

It has been a productive year for Germany on the fintech front, with the country’s central bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, successfully completing two blockchain trials during its collaboration with Deutsche Börse, owner of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The two blockchain prototypes were designed to test the technology’s potential in securities settlements, transactions, and payments, as well as bond repayments.

This follows an earlier announcement that’s its new app, Bison, would be released by Fintech company Sowa Labs, a subsidiary of Boerse Stuggart Digital Ventures, later this year. Boerse Stuggart is Germany’s second-largest stock exchange after Boerse Frankfurt.

The aim now is to extend crypto activities to primary and secondary markets and create a platform from which tokens can be issued. The previously announced Bison trading app will be released in both German and English which will support multiple pairs including BTC, ETH, LTC, and XRP. The app is claimed to be the first that has the support of a major traditional stock exchange.

The intention for Boerse Stuttgart is to keep everything under one roof where hosted ICO coins can be traded alongside leading cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH. Chief Executive Officer of Boerse Stuttgart, Alexander Höptner, explained:

“At the trading venue tokens issued via our ICO platform can be traded on the secondary market. This is an important success factor for ICOs. At the same time, we are responding to demand from both retail and institutional investors for a regulated and reliable environment for trading cryptocurrencies.”

Höptner said that this will give the exchange the opportunity to offer “central services along the value chain for digital assets, all under one roof.”

Boerse Stuttgart’s Subsidiary Sowa Labs conducted a survey of 1,019 German crypto traders earlier this year asking for their opinion on virtual currencies. Of the respondents, 81% were male, 19% were female, and 54% were 35 years old or younger. Of these, 16.9% owned a single cryptocurrency, whilst 18.2% confessed to owning several. More than 80% of respondents opened their first trading account from 2017 onward.

Dr. Ulli Spankowski, Sowa Lab’s managing director, commented that in Germany up until now the fast trading of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether had been “anything but easy.”